


never had much faith in love (or miracles)

by mohritz



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Wedding Planner, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Mario Kart, Past Relationship(s), Pizza, Trust Issues, Weddings, best friends emori and murphy, clarke loves queen, everyone knows bellamy except murphy, there's a lil bit of angst sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 13:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mohritz/pseuds/mohritz
Summary: Murphy is in a really, really bad mood.He’d woken up late, which meant he’d had to have the quickest shower of his life. In the process, he’d managed to get soap in his eyes twice, hit his elbow on the shower wall, and cut himself shaving.After hastily getting dressed, looking at his hair in the mirror and deciding to just avoid dealing with it (much like all the other underlying problems in his life) and grabbing his bag, he’s ready to go. It doesn’t help much that he doesn’t have time to grab a coffee on the way to work.(or, murphy and emori run a wedding planning business, monty and jasper are married, and apparently everyone knows bellamy blake)





	never had much faith in love (or miracles)

**Author's Note:**

> this is SO SELF INDULGENT 
> 
> i wrote this over the span of like a week and tbh im now exhausted but it was so worth it
> 
> please enjoy! any mistakes are mine 
> 
> title is from locked out of heaven by bruno mars (purely because i rewatched pitch perfect 2 the other day and then found the deleted scene where the trebles sing it and it's been on repeat since then im ngl)

Murphy is in a really, really bad mood.

He’d woken up late, which meant he’d had to have the quickest shower of his life. In the process, he’d managed to get soap in his eyes twice, hit his elbow on the shower wall, and cut himself shaving.

After hastily getting dressed, looking at his hair in the mirror and deciding to just avoid dealing with it (much like all the other underlying problems in his life) and grabbing his bag, he’s ready to go. It doesn’t help much that he doesn’t have time to grab a coffee on the way to work.

When he arrives, Emori is already there, typing away from where she sits behind the receptionist’s desk.

“Morning, John,” she says, looking him up and down. “You look like shit.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Raven,” he shoots back, walking straight past her and into his office.

He didn’t intend on becoming a wedding planner. It’s something he feels he needs to explain to literally everyone he meets, because Murphy and the words ‘wedding planner’ put together make a damn good oxymoron.

He majored in English at college, initially wanting to go into journalism, or something else where he could write and read and work late hours to avoid his family.

And then one of his closest friends had decided to get married.

Monty and Murphy had been roommates their freshman year. They’d started off avoiding each other, mostly due to Murphy’s weird trust issues and Monty’s tendency to spend most of his time elsewhere either studying or getting high. One day, however, Murphy had been on a Star Trek binge, and when Monty entered the room to see what was on the laptop his eyes had lit up. That had been the beginning of their close, albeit weird, friendship.

He’d met Jasper shortly after that. At the time, he was Monty’s best friend, although Murphy was quick to pick up on the lingering touches and constant eye contact that he was sure meant something was going to happen. When they’d finally got their shit together halfway through their second year, he was the first to proclaim that “they finally fucking did it, oh my god”.

He wasn’t surprised when they’d decided to get married. They’d known each other since birth, been friends since they first learnt what the word meant. Murphy tried not to let it show how sweet he thought they were, but he’s not sure  how successful his attempts to retain his Cold, Collected Façade had been. He’d seen Jasper and Monty look at each other a few times knowingly when Murphy had smiled at them. Damn Monty and his ridiculous perceptive abilities.

As sickeningly cute as the couple were, however, they’d been ridiculously bad at managing everything. He wasn’t sure Jasper even knew how a wedding worked. As the date got closer, Murphy had found himself getting more involved with the planning, even speaking to Jasper and Monty’s parents to make last minute arrangements. He grumbled about it, sure, but he found that he sort of loved it.

He’d been telling Emori about it after the reception over what was probably his third or fourth glass of wine.

“So start a business,” she’d said simply, snatching another glass of champagne off of a passing tray.

Murphy had blinked a couple of times, processing this idea. “Huh.”

That had been that, really. He’d roped Emori into coming to work for him – although she insists that because it was her idea she really ought to get equal amounts of credit – and they’d bought a tiny space in an office complex just twenty minutes away from Murphy’s apartment.

They’d been doing okay for themselves, much to Murphy’s disbelief. What he lacked in people skills, Emori made up for with her weird ability to charm both the parents and the couple getting married themselves. They made a pretty good team.

He reflects on this as he throws himself dramatically into his desk chair. Perhaps if he makes a big enough fuss, Emori will go and get him a coffee from the Starbucks across the street.

 “I know what you’re doing,” she says, amused, as she enters his office with his day planner in hand. “I already bought you one, it’s by reception. I’m surprised you missed it.”

He’s up immediately, darting to reception to grab the coffee. He takes his time walking back, giving Emori the biggest grin he can imagine as he ambles back inside and sits down.

“Your coffee order is the most ridiculous thing on this planet and contains more sugar than any human should intake in their lifetime,” she says bluntly in response. Murphy shrugs.

“What’s on the agenda for today, then?”

“We’ve got a new couple today, actually. Woman named Octavia and her finance Lincoln. I met Octavia when she came in a couple of weeks ago to book and she seemed nice.”

“You know you’re the one with the people skills, Emori, so I’ll leave that to you to decide.” Murphy gets up to look out the window. “What time are they coming in?”

“11:00, so you’ve got a couple hours to scroll through your emails and pretend you’re doing shit even though you’re very blatantly playing Candy Crush on your phone,” Emori says as she writes something down in the planner. “Maybe reply to some of the emails for once?”

Murphy scowls at her as she leaves. “Maybe stop making out with your girlfriend when you’re at work?”

“That was once, John, and Raven apologised!”

“You didn’t.”

“Wasn’t my fault!”

He rolls his eyes as she disappears behind reception, sitting back down and logging onto his computer. As much as he’d like to avoid his responsibilities and play games on his phone all day, he probably should do some actual work so he can pay his ridiculously expensive rent.

He manages to get through a few emails, call a florist, and bug Emori for twenty minutes before he’s back in his office waiting for Octavia and Lincoln to arrive. When they do, he watches as Emori greets them at the door, ushering them through. He stands up as they come in.

“Octavia?” he asks, and the woman nods. “I’m John Murphy, I’m the boss around here.”

Emori snorts. “No you’re not.”

Electing to ignore her, he greets Lincoln as well, shaking his hand and inviting them both to sit opposite him. Emori sticks her middle finger up at him as discreetly as she leaves, shutting the door behind her.

“So, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourselves?”

Murphy hates this bit of the process. He has to make notes on what the couple says, which means he actually has to listen, and some people have the most boring life stories he’s ever heard. As terrible as it sounds, he doesn’t mean it in a rude way: he just doesn’t particularly care for hearing about their high school experiences or that one trip that made them realise they were perfect for each other.

“Not much to say, really,” Octavia shrugs.

Huh. This is a first.

“Elaborate?” Murphy says, twirling his pen in his hand.

“We met a few years ago at college, went out on a few dates. We’re in love, I guess? Is that what people usually say?” Lincoln looks at Octavia, who just laughs a little.

“You guys might be the most casual couple I’ve ever met,” Murphy raises an eyebrow.

“Of course we love each other,” Octavia says. “We’ve been travelling, met the parents, taken stupid selfies in public places, but we’re not fussed about marriage. It’s my mom and my big brother who really want this for us.”

“Hence the wedding planner,” Murphy says, writing that down. “It all makes sense now.”

“Yeah. Bellamy – my big brother – is just a ridiculous romantic, but it’s my mom piling on the pressure. Lincoln and I are happy to go along with it, but we’re really not that bothered.”

Murphy grins. He likes these guys already.

He runs through the more logistical side of things with them – how often they want to meet, what dates they’re considering, how big of an event they want it to be, that sort of thing. He finds he genuinely enjoys talking to them, which is a rare occurrence in his field of work. It’s the organising and the enjoyment of seeing the outcome of his work that he really, really loves. The free cake is also appreciated.

“Alright, I think that’s most of the stuff I need for today,” he finishes. “At the risk of sounding very creepy, it would be good for me to meet your immediate family as soon as possible so I can talk to them about some stuff.”

“Bell was gonna come today, but then he got held up at work,” Octavia replies. “I’ll get him to come with me when I meet you at the venue on Thursday. My mom, however, you will under no circumstances talk to.”

Murphy barks out a laugh. “Your wish is my command.”

“Sorry,” Lincoln apologises. Murphy has already picked up that this guy is too nice for his own good. “Aurora is a bit of a sore spot.”

“Sure, if you wanna call emotionally manipulating her children a sore spot.”

“It’s fine, Octavia. I won’t meet your mother. God knows I’ve had experience with the crappy family thing, so I get it.”

Octavia looks curious, but doesn’t press, and he chats with them for a few more minutes before they get up to leave. Lincoln promises to be in touch about Murphy meeting with his parents, and he confirms that he’ll be at the first venue at 10am on Thursday to meet Octavia and Bellamy.

Once they’re gone, Emori comes into his office. “Well?”

“Possibly the best clients ever,” Murphy grins.

Emori looks satisfied, getting out her phone to text someone. Murphy, always the sceptic, folds his arms.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Telling Raven she can come to the office,” Emori says, not looking up from her phone. “You’re in a good mood, so you’re less likely to be a dick. Or throw a stapler at her.”

“She provoked me,” Murphy protests, but Emori waves a hand in his general direction to silence him and then heads back down the corridor.

Grumbling, Murphy sits back down. It’s going to be a long week.

When Thursday rolls around, he’s about ready to fling himself into the sun. He pulls himself out of bed at eight, lobbing his phone across the room when his alarm goes off. He immediately gets up to check if it’s broken, though, and the fear of not having stupid iPhone games to play on his commute wakes him up enough to get into the shower.

An hour later, he’s ready to go. It doesn’t take him too long to get to where he’s arranged to meet Octavia and Bellamy, and he’s got time to go into one of the five coffee shops along the street before they arrive.

He goes into Starbucks, purely because they sell what Emori refers to as the ‘devil’s concoction’ that he likes to drink on a regular basis. He scrolls through his phone as he waits in line, making a mental note to text Monty about where he wants to get lunch later.

He’s grabbed his coffee and is about to head out the door when he collides, full on, with the man that was standing behind him in line. The coffee, unfortunately, ends up all over the other guy instead of him.

“Fuck,” Murphy swears, earning himself a glare from a mother across the shop. “I’m so sorry, dude.”

The man looks pissed. Not only did Murphy manage to dump his coffee all over the guy, but his own drink had fallen to the floor in the process.

“At least your shirt is black?” Murphy squeaks, starting to edge closer to the door. “It’s not that noticeable.”

The guy just continues to glare, and Murphy has a bit of time to actually take in the fact that the guy is hot. Ridiculously so. He chooses that moment to make his exit, mumbling ‘sorry’ once more before hightailing it out of there.

He heads to a coffee shop on the other side of the street to get something to drink, and he’s extra careful to actually watch where he’s going when he exits and heads back over to the meeting point.

Octavia arrives shortly afterwards. She smiles when she sees Murphy.

“Nice to see you,” she says, and gives him a quick hug.

“Careful, he might spill it all over you.”

Murphy is pretty sure he feels all of the blood drain from his face, and he moves away from Octavia to see Angry Coffee Shop Man standing a couple of feet away from them.

“Hi,” he says sheepishly. “Sorry again.”

“Bell?” Octavia looks confused. Murphy doesn’t blame her. “You’ve met?”

“A few minutes ago, actually. He dumped his coffee all over me.”

“Okay, that’s technically not what happened, but sure,” Murphy says. “It was an accident. No need to be a douche about it.”

“You weren’t looking where you were going!”

“You decided to stand less than a centimetre behind me in the line!”

“Ladies, ladies!” Octavia says sharply. “You can argue about this after we’re done looking at the place. Okay?”

Murphy nods. Bellamy still looks pissed, but he clearly adores his sister, because as soon as she starts talking to him about flowers and where she went for lunch last week and the new Wonder Woman film he immediately brightens.

Trailing along behind them, Murphy has time to better appreciate Bellamy. He’s tall, taller than Murphy had realised in the coffee shop, and his hair is probably great for tangling your hands in –

He needs to stop that train of thought right there, because Octavia has asked him a question and he has not been listening at all.

“Sorry, what was that?” he says, coming to a stop beside them by the entrance to the hotel they’re supposed to be looking at.

“Are you married?” she asks, amused.

Murphy snorts and shakes his head. “Fuck no. Haven’t dated anyone since college.”

“Nobody you’re interested in?”

“Not particularly. Emori’s tried setting me up with various people, but they usually go on one date with me and then run for the hills.”

Bellamy barks out a laugh at that, and Murphy narrows his eyes.

“No, sorry, that wasn’t intended to be rude,” he waves his hands as if surrendering. “It was just a funny way to phrase it.”

Murphy’s not sure he believes that, but he nods and leads them into the lobby of the hotel. He talks to the manager as Octavia and Bellamy look around, chatting animatedly. He can’t help but watch Bellamy’s eyes light up as he takes in various bits of the room, and he swears under his breath as he goes to join them. He can’t develop a weird obsession with his client’s older brother. It’s unethical.

“How do you like it?” he asks Octavia.

“It’s really nice,” she says. “I didn’t think I’d be excited at the prospect of a wedding, but here we are. I’m gonna go ask some questions, if that’s okay?”

Murphy nods, and she heads in the direction of the manager, leaving him standing awkwardly next to Bellamy in silence.

After a few moments, the taller man speaks. “Sorry for being a dick about the coffee. I know it was an accident.”

“And here I was thinking that you deserved it,” Murphy responds.

“That hurts,” Bellamy says, holding a hand over his heart. “You wound me.”

“Yeah, well, the truth does.” Murphy pulls his phone out of his pocket to see he has a text from Jasper. “One sec.”

**Chat: Jasper Jordan**

**Jasper:** yo yo yo

 **Jasper:** monty broke his phone when he tried to upgrade it by himself so he asked me to text u about lunch today

 **Jasper:** the dropship? as per?

 **Murphy:** sounds good. tell monty he’s a dumb fuck

 **Jasper:** that’s mean murph L

 **Murphy:** have you met me

 **Jasper:** touche

Murphy rolls his eyes, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “Sorry, that was my friend. Meeting him for lunch today.”

“No problem,” Bellamy appears to still be taking in the room, which Murphy has to admit is beautiful. “God, I love weddings.”

“Never would have taken you for a romantic,” he says.

“You’ve known me twenty minutes.”

“You insulted me twice in those twenty minutes.”

“Fair point.” Bellamy pauses. “So what got you into the wedding business?”

“One of my closest friends decided to get married, and both he and his husband are basically five year olds in twenty four year old bodies,” Murphy explains, and Bellamy chuckles in amusement. “I planned it for them, and realised I sorta loved doing it. The guy I was texting – Jasper – is one of the guys.”

Bellamy raises an eyebrow. “That wouldn’t happen to be Jasper Jordan, would it?”

“Holy shit,” Murphy says. “Wait, what? How do you know Jas?”

“We used to work together,” Bellamy shrugs. “I couldn’t make his wedding though. I was away with my girlfriend at the time.”

Murphy feels a little disappointed at the word girlfriend, but then inwardly scolds himself for making assumptions. He doesn’t really know anything about Bellamy yet.

He feels a little bit like he’s crossing some sort of line, but he can’t help himself. “Do you want to come to lunch?”

Bellamy looks surprised that he’s asked. “Uh-”

“You don’t have to, you know, it’s cool. Just if you wanted to,” Murphy decides now would be a good time to inspect the floor. “The offer is there.”

“That would be good, actually. I’m hungry, and I haven’t seen Jasper in a while, so.”

Murphy looks up in surprise. “Alright then. I’m headed there once we finish up here.”

“Cool,” Bellamy says. “I brought my car, so I can drive us.”

They’re interrupted by Octavia’s return, which gives Murphy time to consider this weird fucking turn of events that is his life. He considers texting Emori, but then remembers he’s mad at her for yet again using the office to make out with her girlfriend, so he decides that she can hear this story at a later date.

Octavia and Bellamy do one last circle of the room before they decide they like it. Murphy confirms the booking with the manager, and they officially have a venue for the wedding.

He invites Octavia to lunch, but she declines politely, saying she has somewhere to be. She winks at Bellamy as she leaves. Murphy feels like there’s hidden meaning behind that, but he’s too busy freaking out about the fact he is going to be in this hot guy’s car to really process what Octavia was implying.

“I’m parked just around the block,” Bellamy says, waving at Octavia once more before heading towards the corner. “Come on.”

Murphy follows him, actively begging his own brain not to make him look like an idiot in front of this guy. “I can’t believe that 45mins ago you were glaring at me because I split coffee all over your front and now I’m getting into your car.”

Nice one. Real smooth.

Bellamy laughs. “I told you, I’m nice. I’ve forgiven you.”

“Thanks,” Murphy quips as he gets into the car.

The drive to The Dropship, Murphy’s favourite café in the city, only takes a few minutes, and before he knows it they’re parked and getting out. He spots Monty waiting outside, giving him a wave as they approach.

“Jasper’s just gone to get some money out the ATM,” Monty says in way of greeting. “He’ll be back in a sec.”

“Does that mean he’s paying for lunch?” Murphy responds, ruffling Monty’s hair. “Nice to see you too.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Monty bats away Murphy’s arm. “Watch it – wait, Bellamy?”

“Nice of you to finally notice me,” Bellamy smirks as he leans forward and gives Monty a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m good!” Monty says, and he looks a little bewildered. “I didn’t know you knew Murphy.”

“I didn’t until today,” Bellamy says. Monty looks even more confused, if that were even possible.

“Long story short, I’m planning his sister’s wedding,” Murphy explains. Monty takes a second to process this, then seems to accept it, because he starts talking to them both at a mile a minute about some technological thing that Murphy barely understands. He’s, for once, thankful for Jasper’s arrival a few minutes later.

“Jordan!” Murphy proclaims loudly. “My favourite acquaintance. How are we?”

Jasper, almost as confused as Monty had been, adjusts the goggles currently sitting on his head. “Uh, fine?”

Monty immediately takes Jasper’s hand. “Look, Jas, it’s Bell!”

“The fuck?”

Murphy explains yet again, and Jasper just nods in vague understanding and announces that he would really like to eat. The four of them go in and are shown to a table near the window. Murphy slides into the booth opposite Jasper and Monty, and Bellamy sits down next to him.

Murphy doesn’t need to look at the menu, smiling at Miller as he comes to take their order.

“Oh god, it’s you guys again,” he deadpans, but he gives Murphy a smirk as he takes out his pen and notepad. “What can I get you?”

“The usual, thanks,” Murphy says. Jasper and Monty agree. Bellamy, however, takes a little longer.

“Any day now,” Murphy’s tone is dry. Bellamy looks up and scowls.

“Some of us haven’t been here before,” he points out, and Murphy leans back and folds his arms. Monty rolls his eyes in amusement.

Once Bellamy has finally ordered, and Miller has headed back to the kitchen to give their orders to Jackson, Jasper leans forward.

“So, Octavia’s finally getting married?” he says to Bellamy. “Lincoln, right?”

“Yup. In about three months. Mom didn’t want them to wait that long.”

“God, that’s really not long,” Monty remarks.

“It’s not, and that’s coming from me,” Murphy says, fiddling with the corner of a menu. “I’ve got three months to plan a wedding. Goodbye sleep.”

“Shut up, Murphy, you love your job,” Jasper retorts as he slings his arm over Monty’s shoulders.

Murphy rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond. He doesn’t want to give Jasper the satisfaction of being right.

The rest of the meal passes by in a similar lazy fashion. Murphy learns a little bit more about Bellamy and the Blake family – which he insists is for the wedding planning, but he does also just like to listen to him talk – and shares some college stories. The one about Jasper and Monty accidentally blowing up their dorm room when practicing some chemistry assignment has Bellamy in literal tears, and Murphy can’t help but notice how his eyes crinkle up at the corners when he laughs.

He elects to ignore the fluttery feeling he can sense building up in his chest.

They spend so long in the restaurant that Miller has to kick them out because they need to give the table to new customers.

“Get out, assholes,” he says, but he’s smiling, and Murphy gives him a wink and blows him a kiss as they leave.

Once they’re outside, Jasper and Monty announce they’re headed back to their apartment to ‘watch Star Wars’, which is definitely code for something else. Murphy scoffs.

“Alright, heathens,” he raises an eyebrow. “Next week, same time?”

“Always and forever, Murphy!” Jasper mock salutes him and grabs Monty’s hand, pulling them in the other direction. Monty yelps and waves, shouting his goodbyes as he and Jasper disappear.

Murphy turns to Bellamy. “I should, uh, probably head back to the office.”

“I should probably call O,” Bellamy nods. “I’ll, uh, see you later?”

“Definitely, considering I’m planning your sister’s wedding and that means I must take advantage of the free cake she will obviously offer me.”

Bellamy just grins, shaking his head exasperatedly. “Whatever the hell you want, Murphy.”

Once Bellamy has driven off, Murphy’s not sure what to do with himself. The office story was a bit of a lie – Emori’s got them covered today, and they didn’t have very many bookings regardless, so he doesn’t really have to be into work until tomorrow. He just needed to have a very controlled freak out about the Feelings currently violently worming their way into his chest.

He calls Emori as he walks to the subway station.

“Help,” he says flatly when she answers the phone.

“John, I’m busy.”

“Busy sucking face with Raven, yeah, sure. This is important.”

“Fine,” he hears Emori sigh and settle down in what he assumes is reception. “What’s up?”

“You know Octavia Blake?”

“I’m already worried.”

“No, listen. She has a really hot brother.”

“Oh my god, John, seriously-”

“And he’s really nice, too! And his eyes crinkle when he laughs and he’s got this ridiculous curly hair that must be really good to tangle your hands-”

“I’m shutting you down. I’m guessing you met him today?”

“Yes. He’s beautiful, Emori, I swear to God.”

He hears Emori sigh again and move away from the phone. He then hears mumbling which he assumes means that she’s talking to Raven, and he braces himself for the inevitable judgement he knows will be shortly directed his way.

“Raven says to go for it because it’s been ages since you got laid, and to be honest, she’s not wrong.”

He makes an indignant noise into the phone, which makes Emori laugh.

“As long as you don’t compromise our business, I don’t care what you do. Also, I want pictures, because I don’t trust your judgement,” she says, and Murphy can hear the smirk in her voice.

“No,” Murphy says, but quickly changes his mind when he remembers how many different ways Emori could probably injure him. “Fine. Next time I get an opportunity.”

Once he says goodbye to Emori, gets on the subway and sits down, he’s had a little time to reflect on what he’s calling the Bellamy Problem. He figures he’ll just go with it. The feeling may go away, after all.

The feeling doesn’t go away.

Exactly two weeks later, he’s sitting with Bellamy, Octavia, Lincoln and Emori in the restaurant of a different fancy hotel to taste test different set menus. He’s not particularly sure he was asked to come along, considering the food is usually Emori’s domain, but he’s never one to turn down free food and he gets to stare at Bellamy’s face for a good two hours.

He’s tuned out of the conversation in favour of watching one of the hotel staff change the vase of flowers on the receptionist’s desk. He’s a little bit scared that the boy is going to drop them, and he’s watching in anticipation to see if it happens (he thinks it would probably be quite funny).

“Murphy, stop hoping for bad things to happen for comedic purposes,” Emori scolds, and just like that he’s turned back to the table.

“Gotta get my stress relief somewhere,” he quips, shooting a wink at Bellamy when they make eye contact. He can’t be sure, but he thinks Bellamy may have blushed a little bit.

“Has anyone told you you’re a little bit strange?” he says, looking at Murphy, who shrugs.

“Probably. Not like I listen.”

“So, Murphy, how long have you and Emori known each other?” Lincoln asks.

“Since college,” he shrugs in response. “She was my relief from my other idiot friends.”

“Rude,” Emori remarks. “I thought you liked me for my charm and endless supply of alcohol.”

“Still don’t know where you sourced it all from.”

“I have my ways.”

Octavia is watching this exchange with interest. “Are you guys, like, a thing?”

Emori spits out her mouthful of wine. Murphy cackles wildly.

“Yes,” he says, when he’s calmed down enough to formulate words. “We are. Always and forever, Emori, my sunshine. The light of my life. The axis on which my world turns-”

“He is joking,” Emori says, deadpan as she watches Murphy dissolve back into laughter. “I have a girlfriend, actually.”

Octavia looks a little shaken. “Sorry to assume.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry!” Murphy wipes his eyes a little. “That was the funniest thing to happen all week.”

“John has his eye on someone else, actually,” Emori grins, and Murphy is going to kill her. Slowly.

He mouths “don’t you dare” at her as Bellamy, Lincoln and Octavia sit forward a little to listen to whatever Emori is about to say. Murphy wants the Earth to swallow him whole.

“He’s fawning over this guy he met recently,” Emori continues. “Very handsome.”

She stops there, luckily, but that doesn’t stop him pulling her over to the side when they leave the hotel later. Bellamy and Octavia give them a weird look, but head down the street in front of them.

“Ow,” she complains as he flicks the side of her head.

“Seriously?” he hisses. “Talking about my crush? In front of said crush?”

“I’m just trying to help,” she says, a hint of mischief in her eyes, and Murphy sighs as he realises she’s not going to give this up.

“Stop trying to get me laid. I can do it myself.”

She holds her hands up in surrender and jogs to catch up with Bellamy and Octavia. Murphy takes the opportunity to send a text to Clarke, who he thinks might be the only sane person left in his life.

**Chat: Clarke Griffin**

**Murphy:** help?

 **Clarke:** wtf did you do now

 **Murphy:** ok a) rude

 **Murphy:** b) cute guy alert

 **Clarke:** !!!!

 **Clarke:** it’s been ages since you’ve hooked up with someone, pls pls go for it

 **Murphy:** my friends are way too invested in my sex life

 **Clarke:** ok but srsly

 **Murphy:** no but he’s beautiful AND funny??? like fuck?? and hes got FRECKLES and CURLY HAIR and im in so deep I hate my life

 **Murphy:** oh and did I mention hes the brother of my client

 **Clarke:** WHAT THE FUCK MURPHY

 **Murphy:** lol yeah

 **Clarke:** whats his name

 **Murphy:** you need to know this why?

 **Clarke:** my brain has just made A Connection and I need you to assure me I am wrong

 **Murphy:** uh

 **Murphy:** bellamy blake?

 **Clarke:** shit

 **Murphy:** you know him?????

 **Murphy:** HOW DOES LITERALLY EVERYONE KNOW BELLAMY EXCEPT ME

 **Clarke:** you forget jasper and I worked at the same place

 **Murphy:** oh shit yea

 **Clarke:** I knew Octavia was getting married and was using a planner but I assumed it would be someone else

 **Clarke:** I guess the fuck not

 **Clarke:** it gets worse

 **Murphy:** oh good lord

 **Clarke:** we may have dated?

 **Murphy:** goodbye i wish for death

 **Clarke:** hes very good with his mouth

 **Murphy:** CLARKE

He doesn’t notice that Bellamy has trailed behind the other two in order to fall into step beside him until he speaks.

“Who are you texting?”

“Fuck,” Murphy swears, fumbling as he almost drops his phone. Bellamy snickers. “None of your business.”

“Touché.”

“Actually, no, wait. I have to ask you about this. You dated Clarke Griffin?!”

Bellamy looks mildly alarmed. “How do you know that?”

“Apparently every person in my life knew you before now apart from me,” Murphy retorts. “Clarke is a… good friend.”

“Ah,” Bellamy says, and he looks a little bit awkward. “Yeah, for a little bit, back when we worked together. Does it bother you?”

“Nah,” Murphy says. “Just means I can get blackmail material for Clarke off you should I need it.”

“You’re evil,” Bellamy laughs.

They walk beside each other in silence for a few minutes. Murphy isn’t sure whether he should say something, and Bellamy looks content to just stroll along beside him as they head back to the subway station.

Once they get there, Emori and Octavia have apparently decided to go on a spontaneous shopping trip, and so are heading further into the city. That leaves, much to Murphy’s dismay, Bellamy and him to head the opposite way together.

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Bellamy asks, as they wave goodbye to Emori and Octavia (who both wink at Murphy, which he chooses to ignore) and head onto the platform.

“We’ve got no more appointments, so I was probably going to watch shitty television or play video games all afternoon,” Murphy sighs, fiddling with the strap of his bag. “For someone who works with fancy hotels and dress companies, I am not very sophisticated.”

“It’s a strange combination, but it’s cool. I like it.”

Murphy can’t help but smile at that, and when he looks up at Bellamy he finds the other man grinning back at him. He tries really, really hard not to blush, but he doubts he’s having much luck.

He finds himself thinking what it would be like to kiss him as the train rolls in. The carriages are crazy packed for a Thursday afternoon, and it doesn’t help those thoughts to be pressed against Bellamy’s side as they hurtle through the underground.

When they get off the train, Bellamy grabs his arm so they don’t get separated. They head towards the stairs, weaving their way through the people and managing to reach them without much problem.

“So,” Bellamy says as they head up to street level. “I’ve got no plans. Wanna play Mario Kart?”

“If you wanna get your ass kicked, then sure,” Murphy says, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s on.”

That’s all it takes for Murphy to find himself next to Bellamy on his couch two hours later, frantically pressing buttons on the wii remote as he attempts to overtake him on Rainbow Road.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he swears as he falls off the track once again. Bellamy cackles, and Murphy has to restrain himself from elbowing him in the side as he would if it were Emori or Clarke.

Bellamy wins in the end, and Murphy scowls and rolls his eyes as he pulls himself up from the position he’d been sitting in.

“I’m hungry,” he announces, grabbing his phone from the coffee table. “Pizza?”

“You read my mind,” Bellamy responds.

Murphy rings the place he orders from regularly, asking for two of his ‘usual’ as well as a couple of sodas. When he gets off the phone to the pizza company, he sees he has a couple of texts from his group chat with Clarke and Emori.

**Chat: the queer muskateers**

**Emori:** ARE U STILL WITH BELLAMY

 **Emori:** ALSO I CANT BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS CLARKE’S EX. ICONIC

 **Clarke:** if you’re banging him then I win 20 dollars so

 **Murphy:** you’re both ridiculous and im ignoring you

He locks his phone with a grin and drops back down on the couch next to Bellamy, who shoots him a smile.

“What do you wanna do now?” he asks, and Murphy thinks for a second.

“Movie?” he asks.

Bellamy nods. “You pick.”

Murphy thinks about what he’s learnt about Bellamy across the two weeks he’s known him properly. He’s a history graduate, he’s ridiculously argumentative, but he also has a weakness for chick flicks (which Murphy can, to be honest, really relate to).

“We should watch High School Musical,” he decides, opening Netflix, and Bellamy scoffs.

“Uh, why?”

“Octavia told me you like dumb teen chick flick films, so don’t play coy.”

Bellamy looks uncomfortable, which makes Murphy laugh.

“It’s okay,” he says. “Me too – but tell Jasper that and they won’t find your corpse tomorrow morning.”

Bellamy just shakes his head, settling down as the film loads. They’re halfway through when the pizza arrives, and by the time the film ends they’ve counted at least 10 inaccuracies.

“I wish high school had been like that,” Murphy says. “Did they even go to any classes?”

“Theatre?” Bellamy furrows his brow, and Murphy tries really hard not to let on how cute he finds it.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t count.”

Murphy stretches his arms. The position he’d been sitting in had been comfortable, but at least three of his limbs had gone to sleep and he’s in great need of being able to feel them again. When he opens his eyes, he sees Bellamy is staring at him, wide eyed.

“Like what you see?” Murphy quips, because that’s the kind of person he is.

What he doesn’t expect, however, is Bellamy to surge forward and kiss him. He flails a little, before gripping the other man’s shoulders and kissing back with everything he has.

It only takes a few seconds before Bellamy is pushing Murphy back to lean over him on the couch.

“I like it a lot,” he says against Murphy’s lips, before kissing him once again. Murphy whines in the back of his throat, pulling at the hem of Bellamy’s shirt.

“Bed?” he breathes when they pull apart for air a few seconds later. Bellamy’s eyes widen, but he’s quick to grin and nod, getting up so Murphy can pull him into his bedroom.

What he managed to forget, however, is that he had thrown half of his wardrobe onto the bed in order to try and find something suitable to wear that morning. He swears under his breath and moves to shove it all onto the floor. When he turns back to Bellamy, he’s laughing, and Murphy scowls.

“Stop laughing,” he says. “Not my fault I wanted to look hot. You were gonna be there.”

That shuts Bellamy up, and he moves towards Murphy to pull him into a kiss yet again. Minutes later, they’ve both somehow lost their shirts, and Bellamy has abandoned Murphy’s mouth in favour of his neck.

It doesn’t take long for things to go much further.

After what Murphy assumes is about an hour (he doesn’t know, he wasn’t counting, that would be weird), they’re side by side, Bellamy grinning at him cheekily.

“I hate you so much,” Murphy grumbles.

“I think what just happened proves you don’t,” Bellamy points out, leaning over to give Murphy a quick kiss on the cheek. “Can I use your shower?”

“Yeah. Need me to show you how to work it?”

“I can figure it out,” he says, getting up and scooping his t-shirt up off the floor. “You sleep.”

Murphy doesn’t need to be told again. He curls up into the warm space Bellamy abandoned, letting himself feel content, just this once.

His alarm goes off at 7 the next morning, and he’s about to turn it off and apologise to Bellamy for waking him so early when he realises that he’s the only one in the bed.

He sits up quickly, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and glancing around the room. The rest of his clothes are gone. There’s not much of a sign he was even there.

Heart sinking, Murphy pads out to the living room. The pizza boxes are nowhere to be seen and the TV is off.

“Well, at least he cleaned up before he left,” Murphy remarks bitterly, heading over to the coffee machine. If he’s gonna be grumpy all day, he may as well be awake so he can actually do his damn job.

He’s in a bit of a daze his entire commute, and once he gets there, he barely acknowledges Emori as he heads through reception and straight down the hall to his office. She follows him, folding her arms as he chucks his bag on the floor and slumps down into his desk chair.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she snaps. “I said good morning and you walked straight past me.”

“You were probably busy texting Raven anyway,” he retorts.

Emori flinches. “You know, John, if you hate my girlfriend that much you could have just said.”

She moves to go back down the hall, and Murphy immediately feels like the worst human being on the planet. It is not Emori who he’s angry at.

“Em,” he says weakly. “I’m, uh, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

She turns from the doorway, narrowing her eyes.

“And I don’t hate Raven. Most of the time.”

That makes Emori chuckle, and she sits down on one of the chairs opposite Murphy, fiddling with her bracelet. Murphy notes with fondness that it’s the one he bought her for her 21st. It also makes him feel even worse for snapping at her.

“I am sorry,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “I’m mad and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“Why are you mad?” she raises an eyebrow. “Bellamy didn’t have sex with you?”

“Oh, no, he had sex with me. It was great.”

“Then what is the problem?” she looks confused.

“What wasn’t so great is that he disappeared straight afterwards,” Murphy folds his arms over his chest, which he knows is a defensive mechanism, but he can’t really help it. “He went to take a shower, I fell asleep, and when I woke up he was gone.”

Emori’s expression immediately hardens, and Murphy suddenly remembers how angry she can get, and how protective she is. It’s why they bonded: a mutual pact to protect their friends, as well as someone to vent to when things got too much.

“Please, for the love of God, do not do anything stupid, Em,” he says, leaning forward. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You’re planning his sister’s wedding.”

Shoot. He forgot about that part.

“It’s fine,” he insists. “It is. He clearly wants nothing to do with me, so he won’t come to anything else we have to schedule. Then I just don’t go to the wedding. Simple as.”

“I don’t think it is as simple as, but okay,” Emori looks sceptical. “I’m going to Starbucks. Would you like your usual wizard’s potion?”

“Always.”

He spends the rest of the day, as well as the next month of planning Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding, moping around. He gets up, goes to work, and goes home to get drunk. Clarke tries to text him a few times, but he’s not in the mood to talk to someone who knows, let alone dated, Bellamy Blake.

The exception to that rule is Jasper, because Monty would kill him if he started ignoring his husband. It’s not like Jasper knew Bellamy well, anyway. They just worked together.

He knows he needs to get over this. He only knew Bellamy for two weeks. What he also knows, though, is that he thought that those two weeks were turning into something good for once.

“Is it possible to mourn something you never had?” he says to Monty and Jasper over several shots of vodka that are currently being poured by the bartender. He’s already pretty drunk, and it’s definitely helping with his ability to forget that the last three months of his life ever happened.

“How philosophical,” Monty remarks. As the designated driver for the evening, he’s in charge of both Murphy and Jasper, but he seems to be having a great time capturing their drunken escapades on Snapchat, so they doubt he minds.

He regrets a lot of things when he wakes up the next morning with what is perhaps the worst hangover of his life. He’s pleased, though, when he figures out that the dull feeling that had made itself at home in his chest over the past few weeks seems to have faded a little.

He’s in the process of pulling himself out of bed to get a cup of coffee and some aspirin when there are several harsh knocks at his door.

He elects to ignore whoever it is in favour of making his headache go away, but the knocking doesn’t stop. If anything, it intensifies.

He groans and stumbles to the door. “I’m coming, calm the fuck down!”

“That’s not a very nice way to greet a friend.” It’s Clarke, and to be honest, Murphy isn’t surprised.

He blinks once, twice, before slamming the door in her face and heading to the kitchen to get the cup of coffee he’s been daydreaming about for the past twenty minutes.

His phone buzzes as the water begins to boil.

**Chat: Clarke Griffin**

**Clarke:** john murphy you fucker

 **Clarke:** let me the fuck in

 **Clarke:** if u don’t im just gonna sit outside ur door

 **Clarke:** m u r p h y

 **Clarke:** did u know I know all the words to don’t stop me now by queen

 **Clarke:** I could show you if you want

 **Murphy:** DON’T DO THAT IM COMING

He swears under his breath. He’d rather face Clarke than his asshole of a landlord, especially if he’s been woken up by a horribly out of tune rendition of a Queen song.

He opens the door to see Clarke leaning against the wall, arms folded and eyebrows raised. He doesn’t greet her, and instead opts to head back inside and let her find her own way inside.

“Still no greeting?” she says, following him in and shutting the door behind her.

“I have had 3 hours sleep,” Murphy says. “And no coffee. Don’t speak for the next ten minutes if you know what’s good for you.”

Clarke wisely decides to make herself a cup of tea as Murphy caffeinates himself and calms down a little. Exactly ten minutes later, she sits down beside him at the breakfast bar and waits for him to start talking.

“I don’t know what you want me to say?”

“Maybe start with why you’ve been ignoring me for the past five weeks?”

Murphy sighs. “I haven’t been ignoring you.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna bet?” Clarke pulls out her phone. “I’ve called you 25 times. You have not called back once. I’ve sent probably four times more texts, all of which went unanswered, and that brings me to my question. What the fuck happened that means you decided to stop speaking to me?”

Murphy looks into his cup of coffee and silently begs it to send him into the void. It could probably do that, he thinks. Coffee must have supernatural powers.

“Murphy, for god’s sake.”

“Did Emori tell you about Bellamy?” he blurts out. Clarke looks surprised he’s brought up the topic so quickly.

“She gave me the simple version, yes.”

“You dated Bellamy. Therefore associations exist that I didn’t want to encounter.”

Clarke doesn’t respond immediately, and when Murphy looks over she’s looking sadly down at the counter.

“I met you after the Bellamy thing, so I guess I just ever told you about it,” she says slowly. “It ended because we’re both people with ridiculous commitment issues.”

Murphy frowns. “And?”

“He’s scared, Murph. From what I learnt about him, he’s perpetually convinced he’s going to hurt everyone he touches. He had a big fight with Octavia when we were dating, and it basically ruined him.”

“Does he know he hurt me when he left?” Murphy finds the whole thing a little ridiculous, and he laughs bitterly.

“He probably just thought it would mean less pain for both of you in the long run,” Clarke shrugs. “I wouldn’t give up on him, Murphy.”

Murphy elects not to respond. He fiddles with his mug, and they sit there in silence for a few moments. Clarke finishes her tea and puts her mug in the sink.

“Clarke?” Murphy says eventually.

“Yeah?” she looks tentative, as if she’s worried she’s done something wrong.

“Thanks,” Murphy says, the hint of a smile on his face. “Really.”

Being vulnerable was almost worth the beam he got from her in response.

He chooses not to do anything about it for the time being, knowing that it’s probably the sensible decision to stay professional and wait until Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding has actually happened (although, if Murphy is being honest, he lost all sense of professionalism when he slept with his client’s brother). Emori grins at him when he starts coming into work looking vaguely less grumpy, and Monty and Jasper raise their eyebrows at him when he brings his Star Trek boxset over to marathon with them. He feels slightly more optimistic about the whole thing.

And then he finds himself at the party the night of Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding, and suddenly this whole idea of ‘Talking to Bellamy’ seems a lot more intimidating.

He’s with Emori, Clarke, Jasper and Monty, standing by the bar. He’s downed a little liquid courage and is now glaring at where he thinks he can see Bellamy across the room.

He looks unfairly good in a suit.

Someone (he thinks it’s Monty) is talking a mile a minute about how Murphy’s ‘got this’ and ‘should get the boy’, whilst someone else (he knows it’s definitely Jasper) is singing an awful rendition of ‘Kiss the Girl, replacing ‘girl’ with ‘Bellamy’. Murphy hates his friends so much.

“Right,” he sighs. “It’s now or never.”

Clarke ruffles his hair and wishes him luck, and Emori just smirks, which Murphy translates to mean that she’s rooting for him. He ignores Jasper and Monty completely, who have dissolved into a full on rendition of Now or Never from what Murphy assumes is High School Musical 3 (though he’s totally never watched it, obviously, so he wouldn’t know).

He navigates his way through the crowds of people – he’s not sure how Octavia knows all these people, but whatever – and comes to a halting stop about five metres away from Bellamy.

He’s not entirely sure what his plan of action is. He’s saved from trying to think of one when Bellamy turns around and sees him.

His eyes widen, and Murphy can see the cogs in his brain moving, and he knows if he doesn’t stop the man from darting off he’ll be gone before there’s even a chance to try and resolve things. Even the sight of Bellamy up close is making his anger crumble, and he steps forward, once, twice, until he’s face to face with him.

“Don’t you dare run away,” he murmurs. “Not like last time.”

“I’m sorry,” Bellamy whispers. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“For something you didn’t intend to do, you did a pretty good job of it.”

“I just didn’t want to start something I wasn’t sure I would be able to see through.”

“You are ridiculous,” Murphy says, and he hates how fond his voice sounds. “You could have just told me that.”

Bellamy smiles a little, ducking his head. Murphy can’t help but chuckle.

“I think I’ve changed my mind, anyway,” Bellamy says, sounding even quieter than before.

“Oh yeah?” Murphy raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I like you a ridiculous amount,” Bellamy says, pulling Murphy closer. “That okay?”

“More than,” Murphy breathes, before pulling Bellamy in to kiss him. He hears cheering from a distance, which he assumes is his friends, and someone – probably Octavia – wolf whistles.

When Murphy pulls away, Bellamy is blushing, and it might be the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

“Thanks for planning such a nice ceremony,” he says, fiddling with Murphy’s tie. “Octavia wasn’t really that big on a wedding, but I can tell she’s having fun.”

“Considering she’s over there taking shots with her husband, I don’t think you need to be related her to be able to tell that she’s having a good time,” he responds, and Bellamy laughs.

“Come on,” he says. “Our family booked out some of the ridiculously expensive rooms upstairs. May as well put them to good use.”

“Oh my god,” Murphy says under his breath. “Oh my god.”

The grin Bellamy shoots back at him as he pulls him out the door is somehow both wicked and impossibly fond.

Murphy silently thanks Monty for deciding to get married straight out of college.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a tumblr if you want to yell abt murphamy and jonty:
> 
> https://bihanschen.tumblr.com/


End file.
